SEQ Brekky Snapshot | Wednesday, June 29, 2016

► JIMBOOMBA: The Woodhill Billy Cart Derby is gearing up to celebrate 25 years of racing history on July 23. Read more.

► SCENIC RIM: TWO new cricket ovals at Everdell Park will be named the Larrescy Ovals in recognition of the hard work put in by Cecil, Patricia and Stephen Larrescy. Read more.

►NEWCASTLE: A woman has been charged over a level crossing crash which critically injured two of her daughters. The woman, 30, was driving her Holden Commodore station wagon when it was hit by a freight train at Moorland, north of Taree, on April 21. The woman and her five-year-old daughter, who was seated behind the driver, escaped with relatively minor injuries.

►LAUNCESTON: Tasmanian dairy farmers have been dealt another bitter blow after price setter processor Murray Goulburn posted a weak opening farmgate milk price for the upcoming 2016-17 season.

►REDLAND: A long-term wildlife carer has warned that introducing mainland koalas to North Stradbroke Island as some sort of sanctuary would be an environmental disaster. Jack Jackson of Wildcare Straddie said island koalas were genetically different to mainland animals.

►BENDIGO: Asbestos has been found in a large pile of rubble at a Huntly emergency services facility used for training Country Fire Authority personnel.

The Victorian Emergency Management Training Centre, operated by the CFA, is used to train mostly volunteer firefighters, allowing them to undertake training scenarios similar to those they may face in reality.

►WHYALLA: The federal government have promised a $20 million Regional Jobs and Investment Package for the Upper Spencer Gulf if re-elected. Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham and Member for Grey Rowan Ramsey visited Whyalla on Tuesday to announce the package.

►KANIVA: Farmer Steven Hobbs is exploring alternative substances to firewood. The Nuffield scholar has been compressing agricultural biowaste  and meel into slow-burning fire logs. Watch the video here

►MANDURAH: An Erskine man charged over the death of a cyclist in Halls Head earlier this year has still yet to plead. Keith Michael Osman, 73, made a brief appearance in Mandurah Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

Need a national news snapshot first thing - well, we have you covered. 

►SYDNEY: A group of 34 academics from 16 universities have criticised both major political parties for failing to provide the right policies to improve labor force participation.

Elizabeth Hill, a senior lecturer in political economy at the University of Sydney and spokeswoman for the academics who form the Work and Family Policy Roundtable, said the Coalition Government and Labor opposition had failed to tackle key social policy issues needed to build human capital.

►WASHINGTON: It was one hell of a collision on Monday when the hugely successful American anti-abortion lobby ran into a brick wall called the US Supreme Court – in a single 40-page document the court destroyed a stealth strategy by which state legislatures had been drastically crimping access to abortion but had stopped short of outlawing it. Read on

►LONDON: A rise in racist incidents across the UK in the last few days has been blamed on the Brexit referendum result causing some people to "think it's open season for racism".

Political leaders called for action against intolerance, and vigilance against racism, after police said hate crime reports had risen by more than 50 per cent between Thursday and Sunday compared with the same period four weeks ago.

1985:  David Bowie and Mick Jagger recorded a version of the Martha Reeves and the Vandellas 1964 hit 'Dancing In The Street.' for the forthcoming Live Aid fundraising event. The single went on to become a No.1 UK hit. The original plan was to perform a track together live, with Bowie performing at Wembley Stadium and Jagger at John F. Kennedy Stadium, until it was realized that the satellite link-up would cause a half-second delay that would make this impossible unless either Bowie or Jagger mimed their contribution, something neither artist was willing to do.

When Horsham’s Ron Bandel started working for car parts chain Repco 60 years ago, air conditioning and automatic transmissions were rare luxury extras.

There were no fuel injectors, reversing sensors or Bluetooth sound systems, Holden had just launched its FX series, and the post-war boom created record car sales. Read on